BALTIMORE, MD – US Lacrosse recently announced the 98 players selected to try out for the U.S. Men’s National Team, which will defend its world title at the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships nest summer (July 10-19, 2014) in Denver, Colorado. Among the 98 are 12 former Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse players. Johns Hopkins led all colleges and universities with its 12 selections to the tryout pool.

Tryouts will be held Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at Goucher College in Baltimore.

Former Johns Hopkins players are represented in six of the seven positions listed and two – midfielders Paul Rabil and Stephen Peyser – were members of the U.S. Team that won the World Championship in 2010 with a 12-10 victory over Canada in the title game. Rabil was named the 2010 World Championships MVP.

Below is a list of former Johns Hopkins players selected to tryout. Included is their current professional team or affiliation, year of graduation and position:

BALTIMORE, MD – Johns Hopkins senior defenseman Tucker Durkin was named a First Team USILA All-American on Thursday and four other Blue Jays were named to the team as well. Joining Durkin were senior faceoff specialist Mike Poppleton, who grabbed second team honors, and senior goalie Pierce Bassett, senior defenseman Chris Lightner and sophomore attackman Wells Stanwick, who all earned honorable mention status.

Durkin earned his third straight All-America honor as he nabbed second team honors as a sophomore and first team honors last season, when he was also named the William C. Schmeisser Award recipient as the nation’s top defensive player. This season he led a Johns Hopkins unit that ranks third nationally in scoring defense (7.79). Durkin led the team in caused turnovers (16) and finished fifth in ground balls (32) while regularly drawing the assignment of marking the opposition’s top attackman. While matchups can change throughout a game, the three attackmen he primarily marked in his final three games combined for a total of just two assists in that time.

Durkin is the first Johns Hopkins defenseman since Michael Evans (2007-09) to earn All-America honors three times, the first since Rob Doerr (1998-99) to earn First Team All-America honors in back-to-back seasons and the first to earn first and second team honors a combined three times since Dave Pietramala grabbed first team honors from 1987-89.

Poppleton is making his first appearance on the All-America team with his second team selection. He won 161-of-235 (.685) faceoffs this season and grabbed a team-high 89 ground balls. He ranks second in the nation in faceoff winning percentage and 15th in ground balls per game (6.85). His .685 winning percentage is a Johns Hopkins single-season record, while his 161 faceoffs won are the eighth-highest single-season total in JHU history. He finishes his career having won 351-of-545 (.644) faceoffs and is the school record-holder in career faceoff winning percentage.

Bassett is also making his third appearance on the All-America team after earning second team honors as a sophomore and honorable mention status last season. He posted a 7.59 goals against average and a .604 save percentage this season and currently ranks fourth in the nation in GAA and third in save percentage. His .604 save percentage is the best at Johns Hopkins and the first above 60% since 2005, when Jesse Schwartzman posted a .626 mark. He is the first Johns Hopkins goalie to earn All-America honors three times since Brian Carcaterra turned the trick from 1998-2000.

Lightner is making his first appearance on the team as well after enjoying a strong final season at Homewood. He teamed with Durkin to give the Blue Jays one of the most experienced and effective defensive tandems in the nation. Lightner started all 13 games he played in this season and had a career-high 36 ground balls and nine caused turnovers. His 36 ground balls ranked third on the team, while he was fourth in caused turnovers.

Stanwick took over as the leader of the Blue Jay offense and led the team in scoring with 24 goals and 23 assists for 47 points. He had 11 multi-point games to his credit and had seven games with four points or more on the year. Stanwick is the first sophomore attackman at Johns Hopkins to earn All-America honors since Kyle Wharton in 2009 and he currently ranks fourth in the nation in shooting percentage (.500).

BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland held Johns Hopkins University scoreless for the final 29-minutes, 18-seconds of regulation on Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field, and the Greyhounds snapped a 13-game losing skid to the Blue Jays with an 8-4 victory to close the regular-season.

Loyola’s last victory in the series came in 1999 when the Greyhounds beat the host Blue Jays, 14-5. The previous seven games, however, had been decided by only 13 goals with Johns Hopkins winning four times by a single tally.

The seventh-ranked Greyhounds opened the second half on a man-advantage that carried over from late in the second quarter, and after the teams returned to even strength, Justin Ward skipped a pass to Sean O’Sullivan at the top of the offense, and the midfielder scored on a low shot from 13 yards out 36 ticks into the half.

O’Sullivan’s goal put Loyola (11-3 overall) in front 5-3, but the 11th-ranked Blue Jays (8-5) pulled back within a goal just five seconds later when they won the faceoff on a Greyhounds’ violation. Mike Poppleton ran the ball into the offensive zone and snuck a shot into the top right corner at 14:19.

That, however, was the last goal Johns Hopkins would score in the game. Greyhounds’ goalkeeper Jack Runkel made six of his 10 saves in the final half, and the rest of the Blue Jays’ 11 shots went off goal.

Johns Hopkins also committed 10 turnovers in the second half, and the Greyhounds had just eight in the entire game.

Mike Sawyer scored his third of the day, rolling off a short-stick defensive midfielder and slinging a sidearm shot into the net with 6:10 to go in the third quarter, pushing Loyola out to a two-goal advantage for the third time in the game.

The score remained 6-4 Loyola until nearly six minutes had passed in the fourth quarter. Davis Butts beat a short-stick from below goal-line extended on the right side and bounced a shot past Johns Hopkins goalkeeper Pierce Bassett.

Loyola tacked on its eighth and final goal with 3:13 remaining on a man-up possession. O’Sullivan faked a pass to the right and doubled back with one to Kevin Ryan on the left side of the crease, and Ryan finished past Bassett.

The Greyhounds opened scoring in the game early in the first quarter after Scott Ratliff picked up a ground ball off a Blue Jays’ turnover and sent the ball to Ryan who carried it into the offensive half for Loyola. He then sent a pass to Josh Hawkins who scored from 10 yards out at the 12:20 mark.

Johns Hopkins, however, tied the game 2:25 later when John Kaestner scored on a fading jumper after running from ‘X’. The Blue Jays took a 2-1 lead at 7:23 when Brandon Benn ripped a high-to-low shot off a John Ranagan pass.

The Blue Jays held the lead for nearly five minutes until Zach Herreweyers rolled from behind the cage and snuck a no-look underhand shot into the net, tying the score at 2-2- with 2:24 left in the second quarter.

Less than a minute later, Sawyer struck with his first of the game with a sidearm shot after Harry Kutner rolled back to the middle and passed it to Sawyer.

Sawyer then scored his second of the game with 13:54 to go in the second quarter, finishing the end of a transition run for Loyola. Runkel started the sequence with a save, and Joe Fletcher picked up one of his team-high five ground balls. Hawkins ran the clear and threw a pass to Sawyer who finished with a high shot.

The goal made it 4-2 Greyhounds, but Poppleton won the faceoff for Johns Hopkins, sent a pass to Wells Stanwick who got the ball to Benn for a goal six seconds after Sawyer’s at 13:48 in the second half.

Neither Loyola, nor Johns Hopkins scored after that point in the half, and the teams went to the locker room with the Greyhounds in front, 4-3.

The Blue Jays outshot Loyola 36-28 in the game, but the Greyhounds held them to a .111 shooting percentage in the game.

On the defensive end, Fletcher led the team with five ground balls, while Pat Frazier, Ratliff and Hawkins each had three. Reid Acton and Pat Laconi both picked up a pair, while Laconi and Frazier each caused six turnovers, and Acton and Hawkins had one apiece.

The Greyhounds open play in the third-annual ECAC Lacrosse League Championships on Thursday, May 2, as the No. 2 seed. They will take on No. 3-seed Ohio State Unviersity at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y. at a to be determined time.

BALTIMORE, MD – The 11th-ranked Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team got a combined nine goals and eight assists from its starting attack trio of Wells Stanwick, John Kaestner and Brandon Benn and the Blue Jays used an 11-0 game-ending run to fuel a 15-4 victory over visiting Navy at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. Johns Hopkins held the Midshipmen scoreless for the final 28:02.

Despite controlling the game statistically in the first half, the Blue Jays found themselves in a 4-4 tie after Gabe Voumard polished off his hat trick for the Midshipmen with a laser into the top corner less than two minutes into the second half.

That tie held for just over three minutes before Benn quick-sticked home a feed to the crease from Stanwick to complete his own hat trick. It took all of seven seconds for the Blue Jays to extend the lead as a clean win on the ensuing faceoff by Mike Poppleton led to a Kaestner goal that was also assisted by Stanwick. An unassisted goal by Kaestner less than two minutes later made it 7-4 and the Blue Jays never looked back.

The lead swelled to 10-4 by the end of the third quarter as freshman Ryan Brown added his 14th goal of the season on a slick feed to the slot from Stanwick with 6:20 remaining and Stanwick and senior John Ranagan added strikes in the final three minutes of the period to account for the six-goal lead.

The Blue Jays, who scored all six of their third-quarter goals in a nine-minute span, added a four-goal spurt that took just over two minutes midway through the fourth quarter to put the game away.

Benn wrapped his fourth and fifth goals of the game around Kaestner’s third and junior Rex Sanders added an unassisted strike before the fourth quarter was six minutes old. An unassisted goal by Ranagan closed the scoring with just under six minutes on the clock.

Voumard gave Navy an early 1-0 lead as his 13th goal of the season less than two minutes into the game opened the scoring. A goal by Greg Edmonds in an unsettled situation four minutes later tied the game and Benn gave the Blue Jays their first lead of the game when he found an open net after a nice feed from freshman Holden Cattoni.

Hopkins carried that 2-1 lead into the second quarter and extended the lead to 3-1 when Kaestner fed Benn on the doorstep early in the period, but the Midshipmen, who went more than 20 minutes without scoring after Voumard’s game-opening strike, needed just 83 seconds to draw even as Voumard and T.J. Hanzsche struck midway through the period.

An unassisted goal by Rob Guida 58 seconds after Hanzsche’s goal gave the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead at halftime, only to have Voumard knot the game again early in the third. That would be the final time the Midshipmen would find the back of the net and Benn’s extra man tally four minutes later jump-started the game-ending run for the Blue Jays.

Benn tied his career high with five goals, while Kaestner had personal bests of three goals, three assists and six points. Stanwick added the one goal and a career-high five assists. Poppleton won 15-of-17 faceoffs and added 10 ground balls as the Blue Jays won 17-of-20 faceoffs on the day and held a 37-17 advantage in ground balls.

Voumard was the only multi-point scorer for the Midshipmen, who did get 12 saves from senior goalie Nolan Hickey in just over 50 minutes of action.

The Game: Johns Hopkins plays the first of two straight home games as the Blue Jays (7-4) welcome long-time rival Navy (3-9) to Homewood Field.

A Look Back: On rivalry weekend in the world of college lacrosse, Johns Hopkins picked up a crucial 7-4 win at top-ranked Maryland last Saturday. On the same day, Navy slipped to 3-9 on the year with a 14-7 loss to rival Army at Navy Marine Corps Stadium.

Series History: This week’s game will be the 86th meeting between Johns Hopkins and Navy in a series that dates to a 6-1 Johns Hopkins victory in 1908. The Blue Jays lead the all-time 57-27-1, although the Midhipmen have won two of the last three.

All-Time vs. Number One: Johns Hopkins improved to 8-4 under head coach Dave Pietramala against teams ranked number one in the nation with last week’s 7-4 win at Maryland.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Navy with an all-time record of 931-302-15 (.752). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

That’s 102 Games Over .500: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala picked up his 168th career win with Johns Hopkins’ victory at Maryalnd last week and he now stands at 168-66 overall. Included in that mark is a 145-49 record at JHU and a 23-17 record in three seasons as the head coach at Cornell.
Pietramala ranks second all-time in school history in career coaching victories as only Hall of Fame coach Bob Scott (158 wins from 1955-74) has more victories than Pietramala while patrolling the sidelines at Homewood.

April Reign: Flipping the calendar to April has usually been a good sign for the Blue Jays, who are 51-11 (.823) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in April. JHU is 28-5 at home, 21-4 on the road and 2-2 on a neutral field in April under Pietramala’s guidance.

Must be the Speech: There must be something to what Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala says in the locker room that sparks the Blue Jays as Johns Hopkins holds decided scoring advantages in the first and third quarters through 11 games. JHU has outscored the opposition 41-22 in the first quarter and 34-23 in the third. The Blue Jays also hold a 26-18 scoring margin in the second quarter – the bulge slides to a 32-29 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Balancing Act: Johns Hopkins counts eight players with six or more goals and eight players with 12 or more points through 11 games. In all, 18 different players have found the back of the net for JHU and 22 players have at least one point.

The Key to Victory – Part I: Johns Hopkins is 6-1 on the year when scoring in double figures. The Blue Jays are 1-3 when scoring fewer than 10 goals. JHU scored its first win of the season when scoring less than 10 goals with last week’s 7-4 win at Maryland.

The Key to Victory – Part II: Johns Hopkins improved to 7-0 on the year when holding the opposition to less than 10 goals with the win at Maryland. On the flip side, JHU is 0-4 when allowing 10 goals or more.

It’s Been a While: More than six years had passed since Johns Hopkins last won a game when scoring seven goals or less. Prior to last Saturday’s 7-4 win at Maryland, the Blue Jays’ last win when scoring seven or less came on March 3, 2007, when JHU topped Princeton, 7-6, in double overtime in the Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium. Ironically, the win against Princeton that day came one week after a one-goal loss to Albany; as did last week’s win at Maryland.

EMO Clicking: Johns Hopkins converted on 1-of-2 extra man chances at Maryland and the Blue Jays are now 23-of-48 (.479) on the year and 15-of-31 (.484) in the last seven games. Johns Hopkins currently ranks sixth in the nation in man-up offense. Seven different players have scored at least one extra man goal for the Blue Jays with freshman Ryan Brown (8), sophomore Wells Stanwick (4) and junior Brandon Benn (4) leading the way. Brown’s eight extra man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski had 12 and Conor Ford had eight.

Welcome Back: Junior midfielder Rob Guida returned to the lineup at Maryland after missing eight games with injury. Guida took his customary spot on Johns Hopkins’ first midfield and scored one goal with two ground balls to his credit. He now has two goals, one assist and six ground balls on the year. Both of his goals are extra-man tallies.

Two-for-Two: For the second time in as many seasons, senior attackman John Kaestner stepped into the starting lineup to fill in for an injured player and responded with two goals in a key road win. He scored the first two goals of his career in a 10-8 win at Princeton last season and added a two-goal showing in the win at Maryland last week.

Stanwick Leads Team in Scoring: Sophomore attackman Wells Stanwick had a nine-game streak with multiple points come to an end at Maryland as he was held scoreless for the first time this season.
Stanwick had recorded at least two points in the first nine games he played this season and most recently had a four-goal, one-assist effort against Albany. He had totaled four or more points in four straight games prior to the game at UNC, when he was held to two assist. Despite not registering a point at Maryland last week, he still has totaled 30 points in his last seven games.
Stanwick continues to lead the team in scoring with 22 goals and 16 assists for 38 points on the year and he has far surpassed his goal (9), assist (13) and point (23) totals from last season. He currently ranks 20th in the nation in points per game (3.80).
Stanwick enjoyed the finest game of his career in the 19-9 win over Mount St. Mary’s earlier this season as he totaled five goals and four assists for nine points. Previously he had never had more than two goals, three assists or four points in a game.
He followed that with a two-goal, four-assist effort in the win over UMBC and then added the three-goal, one-assist performance at SU. Stanwick is the first Johns Hopkins player to post nine points in a game since Kyle Barrie had five goals and four assists in a 17-3 win over Navy in 2003. He is also the first JHU player with back-to-back six-point games since Dan Denihan did it against Villanova (8), Ohio State (6) and Maryland (7) during the 2000 season.

Poppleton Rolls On: Senior Mike Poppleton won 13-of-24 faceoffs and grabbed nine ground balls against North Carolina, followed that with a 14-of-23 showing with eight GBs against Albany and won 8-of-15 at top-ranked Maryland last week.
Poppleton, who ranks second in the nation in faceoff winning percentage, is now 135-of-203 (.665) on the year and leads the team with 73 ground balls. He also improved to 325-of-513 (.634) in his career with his showing last week against Maryland and now ranks eighth in school history in career faceoffs won and ninth in faceoffs attempted.

Palmer Tied for Second in Scoring: Despite missing last week’s game after suffering an injury in practice, senior attackman Zach Palmer is still tied for second on the team in scoring with 12 goals goal and 12 assists on the year. He posted three goals and one assist at North Carolina and added one goal against Albany before missing last week’s game at Maryland.
Palmer now has career totals of 71 goals and 68 assists for 139 points. He enters this week’s game against Navy needing just two assists to become the 11th player in school history to amass 70 goals and 70 assists.

Benn Leads Team in Goals: Junior Brandon Benn continues to pace the team in goals (23) and is tied for second in points (24) after scoring once in last week’s win at Maryland. He has scored 53 of his 58 career goals since the start of the 2012 season and has scored at least one goal in all 10 games this season.

What Brown Does For Us: Freshman Ryan Brown has stepped in and made an immediate impact for the Blue Jays in his first year at Homewood. Brown has 13 goals and four assists through 11 games and leads the team with eight extra-man goals. He has registered at least one point in eight of 11 games this season and his eight extra-man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski (12) andConor Ford (8) led a potent JHU extra man unit.
Brown fired home the first hat trick of his career and added an assist for a career-high four points in the15-8 win over Virginia and added two goals at North Carolina. He now has six multi-point and four multi-goal games to his credit this season.

Sanders Breaks Through: Junior midfielder Rex Sanders entered the 2013 season with one career goal to his credit. He has already far surpassed that total as he has scored 12 goals through 11 games. Sanders is tied for fourth on the team in goals (12) and ranks eighth in points (12).

Cattoni Emerging: Freshman Holden Cattoni played in two of the Blue Jays’ first three games, but didn’t register a point in those two outings.
That changed quickly as the hard-shooting lefty punched up back-to-back two-point games against Princeton and Mount St. Mary’s. He fired home a pair of goals against the Tigers and added one goal and one assist against the Mount. He scored an extra man goal against Syracuse, added one goal and one assist vs. Virginia and one goal against Albany and now has six goals and two assists for eight points on the year.

Bassett Among National Win Leaders: Senior Pierce Bassett enters this week’s game at Navy with an 8.23 goals against average and a .589 save percentage after posting 12 saves while allowing just four goals in last week’s win at Maryland. He currently ranks ninth in the nation in save percentage and 12th in goals against average.
Bassett enjoyed one of his finest games of the season against Virginia as he posted 16 saves and allowed just seven goals in 59:02. The 16 saves are tied for the second-highest total of his career and he followed that with a 15-save performance against Albany and the 12-save showing against Maryland that boosted his career total to 468 saves, good for seventh place on JHU’s career saves list. He passed Larry Quinn (462 saves • 1982-85) on the career saves list with his 12 against the Terps.
Bassett also enters this week’s game against Navy tied for second among active Division I goalies in career wins after picking up number 34 against Maryland.

Durkin Fuels Defense: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala has the luxury of returning the nation’s top defensive player in senior co-captain Tucker Durkin, who has picked up right where he left off a year ago.
Durkin has been on a roll of late as the two players he has primarly covered in the last two weeks – Albany’s Lyle Thompson and Maryland’s Kevin Cooper, combined for one assist in the two games. He held Thompson, the nation’s leading scorer at better than seven points per game, scoreless, while Cooper managed just a first-quarter assist.
Durkin currently ranks fourth on the team in ground balls (24) and leads the team with 15 caused turnovers. Durkin is the anchor of a Johns Hopkins defense that ranks 14th nationally in scoring defense (8.45).

Lightner, Reilly Round Out Starting Defense: While senior Tucker Durkin has drawn the most headlines among JHU’s close defensemen, the Blue Jays also count talented senior Chris Lightner and junior Jack Reillyamong the key pieces to their defensive puzzle.
Lightner leads JHU’s close defensemen and ranks third on the team with 26 ground balls and also has eight caused turnovers to his credit, while Reilly has 11 ground balls and ranks second on the team with 11 caused turnovers. Lightner had five ground balls and two caused turnvoers in last week’s win at Maryland.

Scoring Droughts Abound: Despite the new rules in place this season that aim to quicken the pace (and thus increase scoring), the Johns Hopkins defense has been able to hold the opposition scoreless for long stretches.
In last week’s win at top-ranked Maryland, the Blue Jay defense was dialed in from the opening whistle and held the Terps off the scoreboard for stretches of 11:23, 22:02 and 13:13. Senior goalie Pierce Bassett and close defensemen Tucker Durkin, Chris Lightner and Jack Reilly combined to hold Maryland’s starting attack unit to one goal and one assist and the Terps’ potent first midfield managed just three goals and one assist.
This is the first time this season JHU has held the opposition scoreless for 11 minutes or more three different times in one game.
The four goals the Blue Jays allowed are the fewest Johns Hopkins has allowed against a team ranked in the top five since April 5, 1986, when JHU topped third-ranked North Carolina, 16-4.

• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for 11 minutes or more 17 times this season.
• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for 15 mnutes or more 10 times this season.
• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for 20 minutes or more five times this season.

State Rivalries: Without question the Blue Jays play one of the most difficult schedules in the nation and a big part of the schedule are the in-state rivalries the Blue Jays have. Including the recent win against UMBC, JHU is 60-7 (.896) against teams from Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Poll Position: The Blue Jays are ranked 11th in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll as well. The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the USILA Poll to represent JHU’s official ranking at the time of a game. Prior to falling out of the top 20 of the USILA Poll on April 26 and May 3, 2010 (JHU was receiving votes in both polls), the Blue Jays had been ranked in the top 20 in 367 consecutive polls dating back to the first poll in 1973.

More Poll Position: Including this week’s USILA Poll, there have been 406 weekly polls since the inception of the poll in 1973. Amazingly, JHU has been ranked in the top 20 in 404 of those 406 polls. The Blue Jays have been in the top 10 in 381 of the 406 and the top five in 299 of those 406. Johns Hopkins has been ranked number one 104 times since the poll debuted in 1973.

I’m Honored: The Blue Jays return four players who earned All-America honors last season in seniors Tucker Durkin, Pierce Bassett and John Ranagan and junior Rob Guida. Durkin earned First Team All-America honors on defense, while Ranagan and Guida grabbed second team honors at midfield. Bassett earned honorable mention honors in goal and he, Durkin and Ranagan are two-time All-America selections for the Blue Jays.

Odd, But True: Years ending in “3” have been kind, and unkind, to the Blue Jays. Since the formation of the NCAA Tournament in 1971, Johns Hopkins has advanced to the NCAA Championship game three times (1973, 1983, 2003) and the NCAA Semifinals once (1993) in the years ending in three. JHU fell in each of those three title games with the three loses coming by a total of four goals. In each of those instances the Blue Jays subsequently won a national championship within two years.

Representing the Stars and Stripes – Part I: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala will serve as an assistant coach for the United States at at the 2014 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships in Denver Colorado. Pietramala will serve under Richie Meade, the head coach at Navy from 1995-2011.

Representing the Stars and Stripes – Part II: Johns Hopkins sophomore defender Rob Enright was a member of the United States Team that won the 2012 FIL U-19 World Championship in Turku, Finland. Enright is the 17th Johns Hopkins player to represent the United States at the U-19 Championships since the formation of the event in 1988.

Working Overtime: The loss at North Carolina snapped a three-game winning streak for the Blue Jays in games that have gone to overtime. With the loss the Blue Jays are now 19-10 all-time in overtime under head coachDave Pietramala.

CHAPEL HILL, NC – R.G. Keenan scored his only goal of the game six seconds into overtime to lift the sixth-ranked North Caorlina men’s lacrosse team to a dramatic 11-10 win over eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins at, appropriately, Kenan Stadium, Saturday afternoon. Keenan’s goal gave the Tar Heels the win in a game they never trailed until the last five minutes of regulation, but tied late to force extra time.

The Blue Jays took their only lead of the game with 4:36 remaining in regulation when senior John Greeley capped a long possession by getting to the middle of the field and beating North Carolina goalie Kieran Burke from 10 yards out to make it 10-9.

The Tar Heels, playing from behind for the first time in the game, got the equalizer with 90 seconds left on the clock when Chad Tutton drove from the top of the box and found Davey Emala on the doorstep. Emala turned and shoveled a shot past Pierce Bassett to force the fourth tie of the game.

Johns Hopkins won the ensuing faceoff and had possession for the final 1:23 out of a timeout, but the Tar Heel defense kept the Blue Jays away and never allowed a clean look at the goal to force overtime. There, Keenan took over to lift the ‘Heels to their fourth consecutive victory.

The frantic ending seemed almost appropriate in a game that Carolina led by three goals once and two goals four different times, only to have the Blue Jays fight back each time.

After Emala and Ryan Brown traded goals in the first four minutes of the game, the Tar Heels grabbed the momentum with a three-goal run late in the first quarter to grab a 4-1 lead.

Sophomore Joey Sankey used a pick along the goal line to get topside on his defender and rifled home an eight-yard shot to make it 2-1 and Marcus Holman and Emala scored goals just 30 seconds apart to make it 4-1.

After the Tar Heel defense forced a turnover, Holman scored in transition and Emala went backdoor on his defender and took a perfect feed from Tutton just off the crease and scored to give UNC the three-goal lead.

The Blue Jays sliced the deficit to 4-2 late in the first quarter as junior Brandon Benn blew home a 10-yarder while the Blue Jays had the man advantage and Lee Coppersmith broke a long scoring drought for both teams when he dodged down the ally and ripped a 12-yard shot to make it 4-3.

The Blue Jays nearly tied the game late in the second quarter, but Burke made two of his 10 first-half saves on the doorstep in a span of three seconds and UNC took off in transition, where Holman again made them pay with a 12-yard blast that accounted for a 5-3 score at the half.

A back-and-forth third quarter saw the Blue Jays pull to within one twice in the first six minutes, only to have the Tar Heels answer each time with Tutton giving UNC the third of its four two-goal leads with an unassisted strike with 8:45 remaining that made it 7-5.

Hopkins finally drew even at 7-7 on John Ranagan and Zach Palmer goals just 51 seconds apart midway through the quarter, but a Ryan Creighton goal late in the period and the only goal of the game by sophomore Jimmy Bitter gave the Tar Heels a 9-7 lead early in the fourth.

As it had all day, Johns Hopkins rallied. Brown’s second goal of the game – from in-tight on a nice feed to the crease by Palmer –made it 9-8 with 12:34 remaining and Palmer went upstairs with a left-handed laser to draw the Blue Jays even with just under eight minutes on the clock.

That score held for more than three minutes before Greeley gave JHU its only lead of the game in the final five minutes, a lead Emala wiped away late, setting the stage for Keenan’s overtime heroics.

Palmer led the Blue Jays with three goals and one assist, while Coppersmith (2g, 1a), Brown (2g), Greeley (1g, 1a) and Wells Stanwick (2a) also registered multi-point games for JHU. Johns Hopkins held advantages in shots (48-37) and faceoffs (13-11) and got eight saves from Bassett in goal.

Emala matched Palmer’s three-goal effort and Holman (2g, 2a) and Sankey (2g) both added multi-goal games for the Tar Heels, who also got 12 saves in goal from Burke. Keenan won 11-of-24 faceoffs, grabbed five ground balls and end it with his second goal of the season.

BALTIMORE, MD – One week after struggling to find a rhythm on both ends of the field, the 10th-ranked Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team found its stride early in Saturday’s game against 14th-ranked Virginia and posted its most impressive win of the season as the Blue Jays raced past the Cavaliers, 15-8, in the second game of the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic. Hopkins used a 9-0 run and held UVA scoreless for more than 31 minutes to fuel its third straight win in the series and return the Doyle Smith Cup to Homewood.

The Blue Jays (6-2) led 2-1 midway through the first quarter after Brandon Benn and Mike Poppleton scored goals just three seconds apart and Mark Cockerton answered less than 90 seconds later for Virginia. When the Cavaliers finally found the net again with less than six minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Blue Jays had stretched the 2-1 lead to 11-1.

Entering the game with 63% of its goals having been assisted, the Blue Jays won their individual battles during the game-deciding run as the first six goals in the spree were unassisted.

Sophomore Wells Stanwick and freshman Ryan Brown tallied first-quarter goals in the final 6:17 to push the lead to 4-1 and Lee Coppersmith and Drew Kennedy added strikes just four seconds apart before the second quarter was four minutes old to push the led to 6-1. A slow developing transition goal by Phil Castronova made it 7-1 and it looked like that score might hold until the half, but JHU struck twice in a seven-second span in the final minute of the second quarter to carry a 9-1 lead into the break.

Any hopes for a Virginia (5-4) comeback were dashed early in the third quarter when Stanwick completed his hat trick and Sanders added his second strike in a span of just 44 seconds to complete the 9-0 run and give JHU an 11-1 lead – the largest Johns Hopkins has held against Virginia since 1995, when the then second-ranked Blue Jays beat top-ranked Virginia, 22-13, at Homewood Field.

The Cavaliers, who were just 1-of-20 shooting in the first half, found their stride offensively late in the third quarter as a Nick O’Reilly strike and back-to-back goals by Cockerton trimmed the deficit to 11-4. Holden Cattoni’s opportunistic goal with 27 seconds left in the period made it 12-4 and Cockerton scored again just nine seconds later to make it 12-5 entering the final period.

The teams combined for six goals – three each – in the final 8:57 of the game to account for the 15-8 final. Charlie Streep scored two of Virginia’s three goals in the period, while Brown scored twice and Sanders once to complete their first career hat tricks for the Blue Jays.

Stanwick make it four straight games with four or more points as he added an assist to his three goals, while Brown added one assist to his three goals as well for a career-high four points. Sanders’ three goals boost his season total to 11 after he entered the season with just one in his first two years combined. In all, nine different players scored goals for JHU, which scored on 15 of its 44 shots. The Blue Jays were particularly sharp in the second quarter, when they scored on 5-of-12 shots; Virginia was 0-for-13 in that period as JHU took control.

While the 15 goals grabbed the headlines, the play of senior goalie Pierce Bassett was also strong. Bassett posted 16 saves – tied for the second-highest total of his career – including seven in the first half when Hopkins built its lead.

Cockerton, who entered the game ranked third nationally in goals per game, led the Cavaliers with four goals, while Streep scored twice and O’Reilly added two assist to his one goal. Virginia held advantages in shots (52-44), ground balls (32-30) and faceoffs (14-13), but the early Hopkins run was more than it could overcome.

The Game: Johns Hopkins (5-2) makes the 4.5-mile trip to downtown Baltimore and M&T Bank Stadium as the Blue Jays take on Virginia (5-3) in the second game of Inside Lacrosse’s Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic. Game time is tentatively set for 4:30 pm on Saturday, March 23. The JHU-UVA game will follow the Navy-Colgate game.

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins slipped to 5-2 with a 13-8 loss at Syracuse last Saturday. Virginia dropped its second straight one-goal game as the Cavs fell to Ohio State, 11-10, at home.

Series History: Johns Hopkins and Virginia are meeting for the 86th time in a series that dates to a 9-0 JHU victory in 1904. The Blue Jays lead the series 56-28-1 and have won two straight against the Cavaliers.

Playing for the Cup: The winner of this week’s game between Johns Hopkins and Virginia will be presented with the Doyle Smith Cup, which goes to the winner of the annual regular season game between the two teams.

Doyle Smith arrived at Johns Hopkins from Corvallis, Oregon in 1962 and served as the manager of the lacrosse team throughout his tenure at Homewood. He graduated from Johns Hopkins Phi Beta Kappa and worked under the guidance of Hall of Fame coach Bob Scott before moving to the University of Virginia, where he served as the Director of Media Relations for the men’s lacrosse program for 30 years.

Doyle’s devotion to the sport of men’s lacrosse was remarkable. He served as the information director for the USILA for many years and was the official statistician at the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships for over two decades. He also was responsible for the standardization and accuracy of men’s lacrosse statistics and became the face and voice of the USILA during his time at Virginia. In 2000, he became the first non-player, non-coach to be inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

By a joint acclimation between Johns Hopkins University and the University of Virginia, it was established during the 2006 season that the regular-season game contested between the Blue Jays and the Cavaliers be known as the game for the Doyle Smith Cup.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Virginia with an all-time record of 929-300-15 (.753). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

In the Face-Off Classic: Johns Hopkins is the only team to have played in every Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic since the event was formed in 2007. JHU will carry a 4-2 all-time record in the Face-Off Classic into this week’s game against Virginia. Below is a list of JHU’s all-time FOC results:

At M&T Bank Stadium: This week’s game against Virginia will be the 14th Johns Hopkins has played at M&T Bank Stadium. The Blue Jays are 8-5 all-time at the home of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.

JHU won all three of its games at M&T in 2007, including a 7-6 double-overtime win against Princeon in the Face-Off Classic and a 12-11 win against Duke in the NCAA Championship game. After dropping two of their first three games at M&T Bank Stadium in 2003 and 2004, the Blue Jays have won seven of their last 10 here. The 13 games JHU has played here have been equal parts nail-biter and equal parts blowout. Six of the 13 have been decided by two goals or less (including five one-goal affairs) and seven have been decided by five goals or more.

All-Time in NFL Stadiums: In addition to playing 13 previous games at M&T Bank Stadium, JHU has played seven other games in NFL stadiums in its history. JHU is 12-8 all-time in NFL stadiums with the 13 games at M&T accounting for 60% of the 20 all-time games in these stadiums. Below is a breakdown of JHU’s all-time record in the five different NFL venues the Blue Jays have played in:

That’s 102 Games Over .500: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala picked up his 166th career win when JHU knocked off UMBC and he now stands at 166-64 overall. Included in that mark is a 143-47 record at JHU and a 23-17 record in three seasons as the head coach at Cornell.
Pietramala ranks second all-time in school history in career coaching victories as only Hall of Fame coach Bob Scott (158 wins from 1955-74) has more victories than Pietramala while patrolling the sidelines at Homewood.

Must be the Speech: There must be something to what Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala says in the locker room that sparks the Blue Jays as Johns Hopkins holds decided scoring advantages in the first and third quarters through seven games. JHU has outscored the opposition 28-13 in the first quarter and 25-13 in the third. By contrast, the Blue Jays hold just a 21-19 scoring margin in the fourth quarter and an 18-15 advantage in the second quarter.

Balancing Act: Johns Hopkins counts eight players with four or more goals and 10 players with four or more points through seven games. In all, 17 different players have found the back of the net for JHU and 20 players have at least one point.

EMO Clicking: The Johns Hopkins extra man unit connected on 5-of-6 chances against Mount St. Mary’s, 4-of-6 against UMBC, 3-of-6 against Syracuse and is now 20-of-35 (.571) on the year. Johns Hopkins currently ranks third in the nation in man-up offense.
Seven different players have scored at least one extra man goal for the Blue Jays with freshman Ryan Brown(7), sophomore Wells Stankwick (4) and junior Brandon Benn (3) leading the way. Brown’s seven extra man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski has 12 and Conor Fordhad eight.

Stanwick Breaks Out: Sophomore attackman Wells Stanwick continued his offensive roll at Syracuse as he scored three goals and had one assist against the Orange. Stanwick boosted his totals to 15 goals and 12 assists on the year with his effort at SU and he has already surpassed his goal (9) and point (23) totals from last season.
Stanwick enjoyed the finest game of his career in the 19-9 win over Mount St. Mary’s as he totaled five goals and four assists for nine points. Previously he had never had more than two goals, three assists or four points in a game.
He followed that with a two-goal, four-assist effort in the win over UMBC and the added the three-goal, one-assist performance at SU.
Stanwick is the first Johns Hopkins player to post nine points in a game since Kyle Barrie had five goals and four assists in a 17-3 win over Navy in 2003. He is also the first JHU player with back-to-back six-point games since Dan Denihan did it against Villanova (8), Ohio State (6) and Maryland (7) during the 2000 season.

Poppleton Rolls On: With a 14-of-23 performance at Syracuse, senior faceoff specialist Mike Poppleton continued his strong work at the X for the Blue Jays. Poppleton, who ranks first in the nation in faceoff winning percentage, is now 96-of-135 (.711) on the year and leads the team with 51 ground balls. He also improved to 286-of-445 (.643) in his career with his efforts last week at SU.

Benn Leads Team in Goals: Junior Brandon Benn continues to pace the team in goals (19) and ranks second in points (20) after scoring once at Syracuse last week. Benn’s one-goal showing at Syracuse brought to an end a five-game streak of scoring three goals or more. He is the first Johns Hopkins player with five straight hat tricks since Conor Ford turned the trick late in the 2004 season.

Cattoni Emerging: Freshman Holden Cattoni played in two of the Blue Jays’ first three games, but didn’t register a point in those two outings.
That changed quickly as the hard-shooting lefty punched up back-to-back two-point games against Princeton and Mount St. Mary’s. He fired home a pair of goals againt the Tigers and added one goal and one assist against the Mount. He scored an extra man goal against Syracuse and now has four goals and one assist for five points on the year.

What Brown Does For Us: Freshman Ryan Brown has stepped in and made an immediate impact for the Blue Jays. Brown has eight goals and three assists through seven games and leads the team with seven extra-man goals. He has registered at least one point in six of seven games this season and his seven extra-man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski (12) and Conor Ford (8) both topped that mark.

Sanders Breaks Through: Junior midfielder Rex Sanders entered the 2013 season with one career goal to his credit. He has already far surpassed that total as he has scored eight goals through seven games. Sanders is tied for fourth on the team in goals (8) and ranks eighth in points (8).

Bassett Solid Through Seven: Senior Pierce Bassett hails from Arizona, but the chill of the early season in Baltimore hasn’t slowed him as he currently boasts a .569 save percentage and an 8.37 goals against average. He ranks 12th in the nation in goals against average and 15th in save percentage. He posted 10 saves in the win against UMBC and became the 10th Johns Hopkins goalie to reach the 400-save mark in the process. He has 417 career saves to his credit – a mark that ranks 10th in school history.

Durkin Fuels Defense: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala has the luxury of returning the nation’s top defensive player in senior co-captain Tucker Durkin, who has picked up right where he left off a year ago. Durkin currently ranks third on the team in ground balls (17) and leads the team with nine caused turnovers. Durkin is the anchor of a Johns Hopkins defense that ranks 12th nationally in scoring defense (8.57).

Scoring Droughts Abound: Despite the new rules in place this season that aim to quicken the pace (and thus increasing scoring), the Johns Hopkins defense has been able to hold the opposition scoreless for long stretches this season.
Siena, Towson and Michigan each drew blanks of at least 15 minutes and all three had two droughts that lasted at least 13 minutes. Princeton was more productive in its win against JHU, but did have one scoring drought that covered more than 11 minutes, while Mount St. Mary’s went more than 18 minutes without a goal at one point and UMBC was held off the board for 24:04 to open the game and 13:01 later in the game.

A Game of Runs: In JHU’s five wins the Blue Jays have used a game-turning run to pull away. Against Princeton, the Blue Jays did have a 3-0 run in the second half before the Tigers pulled away for the victory, while a 6-2 run against Syracuse trimmed a 6-1 deficit to 8-7 before the Blue Jays ultimately fell.

Poll Position: The Blue Jays are ranked 10th in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll and 11th in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll as well. The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the USILA Poll to represent JHU’s official ranking at the time of a game. Prior to falling out of the top 20 of the USILA Poll on April 26 and May 3, 2010 (JHU was receiving votes in both polls), the Blue Jays had been ranked in the top 20 in 367 consecutive polls dating back to the first poll in 1973.

More Poll Position: Including this week’s USILA Poll, there have been 402 weekly polls since the inception of the poll in 1973. Amazingly, JHU has been ranked in the top 20 in 400 of those 402 polls. The Blue Jays have been in the top 10 in 379 of the 402 and the top five in 299 of those 402. Johns Hopkins has been ranked number one 104 times since the poll debuted in 1973.

I’m Honored: The Blue Jays return four players who earned All-America honors last season in seniors Tucker Durkin, Pierce Bassett and John Ranagan and junior Rob Guida. Durkin earned First Team All-America honors on defense, while Ranagan and Guida grabbed second team honors at midfield. Bassett earned honorable mention honors in goal and he, Durkin and Ranagan are two-time All-America selections for the Blue Jays.

Odd, But True: Years ending in “3” have been kind, and unkind, to the Blue Jays. Since the formation of the NCAA Tournament in 1971, Johns Hopkins has advanced to the NCAA Championship game three times (1973, 1983, 2003) and the NCAA Semifinals once (1993) in the years ending in three. JHU fell in each of those three title games with the three loses coming by a total of four goals. In each of those instances the Blue Jays subsequently won a national championship within two years.

Representing the Stars and Stripes – Part I: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala will serve as an assistant coach for the United States at at the 2014 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships in Denver Colorado. Pietramala will serve under Richie Meade, the head coach at Navy from 1995-2011.

Representing the Stars and Stripes – Part II: Johns Hopkins sophomore defender Rob Enright was a member of the United States Team that won the 2012 FIL U-19 World Championship in Turku, Finland. Enright is the 17th Johns Hopkins player to represent the United States at the U-19 Championships since the formation of the event in 1988.

Working Overtime: The Blue Jays have won their last three overtime games dating back to the 2011 season and are 19-9 all-time in overtime under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Streaking: In case you didn’t notice, Johns Hopkins is 25-7 in its last 32 games and 30-9 since the start of the 2011 season.

SYRACUSE, NY – Host Syracuse used a 6-0 run in the first quarter and a game-ending 5-1 run to fuel a 13-8 victory over visiting Johns Hopkins in men’s lacrosse action at the Carrier Dome Saturday afternoon. The Orange trailed for just over two minutes early in the game and then took control before holding off a Blue Jay rally that trimmed the five-goal deficit to one early in the third quarter.

Syracause (4-1) got one of the runs its known for early as Luke Cometti answered Holden Cattoni’s game-opening goal and the Orange then scored five goals in a span of just under five minutes to take control and grab all the momentum.

Back-to-back goals by Henry Schoonmaker broke the 1-1 tie and gave SU and 3-1 lead and Hakeem Lecky, Scott Loy and Derek Maltz all added goals before the first quarter was over to make it 6-1.

The Blue Jays halted the run with the first of Wells Stanwick’s three goals on the day, but a Matt Harris goal on a scramble off the ensuing faceoff made it 7-2.

The Blue Jays hopped back in the game by scoring four of the next five goals before halftime to make it 8-6 at the half.

Stanwick’s second of the game with just over nine minutes remaining in the period was followed 24 seconds later by a Lee Coppersmith goal in transition to slice the deficit to 7-4.

Loy’s second of the game pushed the lead back to four for the Orange, but junior Rex Sanders and Stanwick struck late in the quarter to account for the 8-6 halftime score.

The Blue Jays, who fought through nine first-half turnovers and were 2-for-2 with the extra-man in the opening 30 minutes, trimmed the deficit to 8-7 less than three minutes into the third quarter when freshman Ryan Brown notched his eighth goal of the season with an extra-man strike.

Johns Hopkins won the ensuing faceoff after Brown’s goal, but a turnover led to Lecky’s second of the game to give the Orange a two-goal lead again.

Senior goalie Pierce Bassett made two point-blank saves to keep it a two-goal game over the next six minutes, but Syracuse worked Loy free along the goal line with 5:25 remaining and he beat Bassett on the doorstep to extend the lead to 10-7 before Loy added his third in the final two minutes of the quarter to make it 11-7.

Junior Brandon Benn scooped up a loose ball in front of the goal and fired into an open net less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, but Matt Pratt answered less than a minute later and a Dylan Donahue goal closed out the scoring 10 minutes later for the Orange.

Loy led the Orange with three goals, while Schoonmaker added two goals and one assist for SU, which outshot the Blue Jays 39-29.

Stanwick paced the Blue Jays with his third straight four-point game on three goals and one assist, but no other Blue Jay posted more than one point on the day. Bassett posted 11 saves in goal for JHU and senior Mike Poppleton won 14-of-23 faceoffs and grabbed seven ground balls, but the Blue Jays’ 17 turnovers and SU’s hot shooting in the first quarter (6-of-11) was more than JHU could overcome.

Johns Hopkins will return to action next Saturday when the Blue Jays play Virginia in the second game of the Konica Minolta Faceoff Classic at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium.

BALTIMORE, MD – The sixth-ranked Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team jumped out to a 5-0 lead and later used a 5-1 run to put the game away as the Blue Jays powered their way past visiting UMBC, 13-7, at blustery Homewood Field Friday night. Eight different players scored for the Blue Jays, who improved to 5-1 on the year and 11-0 all-time against the Retrievers. UMBC slips to 1-4 on the year with the loss.

The Blue Jays wasted little time taking control as they scored twice before the game was four minutes old and built a five-goal lead in the opening quarter. John Greeley and Ryan Brown sandwiched extra-man goals around the first of Zach Palmer’s three goals to stake JHU to a 3-0 lead and junior Greg Edmonds and Palmer both scored in the final 90 seconds of the first period to account for the five-goal game-opening run for the Blue Jays. Palmer’s second strike of the opening period was a behind-the-back highlight reel goal with just 40 seconds left on the clock.

The quick start is nothing new for Johns Hopkins, which has now outscored its six opponents 27-7 in the first quarter this season.

The Retrievers halted the run and hopped back in the game with back-to-back goals in just under a two-minute span late in the second quarter. A David Campbell strike off a nice feed to the slot from Joe Lustgarten finally got the Retrievers on the board with 5:55 remaining in the first half and Pat Young split a double team and blew home his sixth goal of the season at the 4:03 mark to make it a three-goal game.

Any hopes for a UMBC comeback were dashed in a five-minute span bridging the second and third quarters as JHU scored three goals in that span to push the 5-2 lead to 8-2.

Senior John Kaestner handled a tight pass in traffic on the crease and threaded home his third goal of the season and Palmer completed his first-half hat trick with 63 seconds left before intermission to make it 7-2 at the half. When senior John Ranagan swept across the top of the box and blew a left-handed laser past Wes DeRito early in the second half, the Blue Jays had their largest lead of the game at that point.

The Retrievers scored three of the next five goals, including back-to-back extra-man goals by senior Scott Jones, to make it a 10-5 game early in the fourth quarter, but Hopkins answered by scoring three of the next four as Ranagan, Brown and Wells Stanwick all scored their second goal of the game during the spree to make it 13-6. An unassisted goal by Young with 1:17 to play accounted for the final scoring.

Stanwick led the Blue Jays with two goals and a career-high-tying four assists, while Palmer added two assists to his eighth career hat trick. Ranagan (2g, 1a), Brown (2g) and Kaestner (1g, 1a) also added multi-point efforts for the Blue Jays, who got a 12-of-19 showing on faceoffs from senior Mike Poppleton and 10 saves from senior Pierce Bassett.

Jones was the only multi-goal scorer for the Retrievers, who won the ground ball battle (34-28) and outshot the Blue Jays (35-33), but couldn’t overcome the early five-goal deficit. DeRtio made nine saves in his first career start in goal and Phil Poe won 10-of-22 faceoffs and grabbed six ground balls for the Retrievers.

Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, March 16 when the Blue Jays renew one of the great rivalries in college lacrosse with a trip to Syracuse.